Vanilla-Poached Apricots with Zabaglione

Silky zabaglione, warm from cooking but also imbued with deep heat from the wine, cloaks the vanilla-scented fruit with a heady richness. Though it's normally made with Marsala, this more subtle version gives the season's first apricots a chance to shine.

Preparation

Poach apricots:

Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into a 2-quart saucepan, then add pod, water, sugar, zest, and salt. Bring to a boil, uncovered, over high heat, then boil 1 minute.

Carefully add apricots, then reduce heat and poach at a bare simmer, turning over once, until fruit is tender but still holds its shape and skins are still intact, 2 to 6 minutes. Transfer apricots and syrup to a large shallow bowl and cool to room temperature, about 1 1/2 hours.

Make zabaglione:

Beat together yolks, sugar, and wine in a deep 4-quart metal bowl with a handheld electric mixer at medium speed or whisk vigorously until combined well.

Set bowl over a 4-quart pot of barely simmering water and beat mixture until tripled in volume, 5 to 6 minutes.

To serve:

Spoon 2 or 3 apricot halves into each of 6 glasses and top with zabaglione. Serve immediately.

Cooks' notes

·The eggs in this recipe will not be fully cooked, which may be of concern if salmonella is a problem in your area.
·Apricots can be poached 2 days ahead and chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature before serving.

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Reviews

Delicious! I ate with ice cream tonight but I'm sure the zabaglione would be great. I'm thinking the apricots would be great over French toast in the morning. Recipe was fine as is. To be sure that the lemon didn't become overpowering I removed the strips of zest from the apricots and syrup after it had cooled to room temperature.

I only made the
apricots portion of
the original recipe;
I served them over
scoops of vanilla
frozen yogurt.
After the apricots
were finished
poaching, I removed
them and continued
to boil the liquid
to reduce it a bit.
Once it was
chilled, I spooned a
little over the
yogurt as a syrup,
along with the
apricot halves. The
apricots were so
tender and full of
flavor! Will
definitely be making
over and over as
long as the apricots
hold out.